Paisano: Pantry, Part I

"Where's the tamarind?"

"Tamarind?"

"Tamarind!"

The Paisano was now looking in cabinets that held only pots and pans, perhaps assuming I had confused the oddly tart fruit with a saute pan. But more likely just to show me how stupid I was because he had already searched my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer and anyone who didn’t keep their tamarind in one of those places was obviously capable of keeping it anywhere. And equally obviously, not even an idiot such as myself would fail to have tamarind on hand so it must be somewhere.

Yeah. The old self-named "peasant" wasn't a master of subtle innuendo, but if he had been we wouldn’t have been friends. He has a rare ability to make you feel both stupid and valued at the same time. I don't quite know how he does it, but I'm trying to learn. It seems like a useful talent to have if I ever get another real job. And managing clients, like managing bosses, requires lots of arcane skills.

Groaning, he finally leveraged himself up from the floor where he'd been squatting, picked up his glass of wine, and sat down beside me at the table. Looking terribly hurt he asked, "No tamarind?" I smiled, "Never use it myself." I added, "I do have file powder," which isn't at all like tamarind, but does show that my pantry isn't entirely bereft of the exotic and I rather hoped he might not know what file was.

There is, perhaps, nothing so perfectly expressive of a cook's kitchen personality as his pantry. You might consider a pantry as simply a place where shelf goods are stored -- beans, rice, flour, spices -- but each pantry has an essence and that essence is the ingredients that never vary, month-in and month-out. These are items that, as soon as they're gone, appear on the grocery list. These are the items that the cook can't cook without and so, to a great extent, they're determined by what he cooks.

There are certainly some items that are almost universally required: salt, sugar, pepper, flour. But even in such a basic list there can easily be variations. The sugar might be white and granulated, but it might also be in the form of honey, or it might be raw, or it could take the form of fruit juices. It's not really the sugar that's universal, it's the need for a sweetener. Flour might be made of wheat but could also be made of rye, corn, or spelt.

So how do you stock a pantry?

There are some general guidelines. First you need to address tastes, and by tastes I mean in the sense of what our taste buds detect. We can taste sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savory. Sweet are the sugars, whether granulated or in some other form such as balsamic vinegar or honey. Sour is acids such as lemon juice, vinegar, and even the tamarind Paisano was looking for. Bitter is more unusual, at least in Western pantrys -- almonds, tumeric, rue, and fenugreek are all bitter. Salt is salt, but you also find it in soy sauce, fish sauce, and anchovies. Savory, or more properly umami, is found in pure form in MSG but is also present in significant amounts in parmesan cheese, tomato sauce and paste, anchovies, and demi-glace. Tastes are the foundation of flavor (flavor being a combinations of tastes and odors) and a well-equipped pantry should contain several forms of each taste.

In many cuisines, hot, as in spicy, is also an important ingredient. Hot isn't a taste, but is the result of a chemical compound in the spice (pepper) or fruit (capsicum) activating pain receptors in your mouth. One of the interesting things about this effect is that it seems to make some flavors seem more intense.

Flavors are combinations of tastes and aromas and, as opposed to our five tastes, we can distinguish between thousands of flavors. The various ingredients that have a significant impact on taste such as honey (sweet), fish sauce(salty/savory), and vinegar(sour) also have flavor components. Beyond that there are spices and herbs that have much less impact on taste and much greater impact on our sense of smell. Garlic and onions are a perfect example because it's their sulphurous compounds that we detect and we do so through our nose. Ingredients like garlic and onions, bell peppers, celery, and carrots are referred to as aromatics. The name is obvious with garlic, but sauté some celery or carrots and you'll see why they deserve the same label.

Aside from the aromatics, herbs and spice are the prime sources of flavor in a pantry. And these also reflect the cook's preferences, training, and perceptions. Those who lean toward the northern Mediterranean stock oregano, sage, thyme, and basil. In the southern Mediterranean you find allspice, nutmeg, and cumin. In Mexican cuisines you find cumin and oregano again plus dried capsicums and chocolate.

There are two additional pantry components beyond flavors and tastes -- which is not to imply they don't also provide taste and flavor, only that these are secondary roles. First are oils and broths. These are both primarily cooking mediums. A means of transferring heat to food. Olive oil, peanut oil, vegetable, lard, suet, and butter (as such but also ghee) are all members of this family. Growing up in the South my mother kept a container of bacon grease in the pantry (notice, it wasn't refrigerated). It was used to cook pancakes, cornbread, added as a flavoring to beans and greens, and a hundred other uses. I keep my bacon grease in the fridge, but I can't imagine working in a kitchen without it even though I use it much less frequently than my Southern ancestors did. And I also generally have both canned broths, frozen homemade stock, and concentrated commercial stocks and demi-glaces.

Second are the grains: rice, millet, wheat, quinoa, spelt, cassava, corn, and others. Looking in my pantry I find three different rices, four different flours, cornstarch, half a dozen pastas, and bulgar wheat. In most cases grains are actually a primary food item and not an additive.

Part II of this article will be published in the next day or so.

In an alternate life, the Paisano is Kevin Weeks: a Gather food correspondent, personal chef, cooking teacher, and writer in Knoxville, Tennessee who spends too many hours on his feet, cooking. "Paisano" the column focuses on peasant dishes from around the world,Paisano the character is fictional. To read more of Kevin's writings or connect to him click here. His blog, Seriously Good, is read by 75,000 cooks a month. Kevin is also a consultant with ChefsLine.com.